All Over Albany

Woman charged with child endangerment after leaving kid in car -- which was then stolen, Gibson says he'd vote for temporary payroll tax cut extension, Native American from Mohawk Valley approved for sainthood

Albany police say an SUV with a 3-year-old boy apparently still inside was stolen in Arbor Hill yesterday -- the boy was found by a mail carrier not long after and the SUV had been abandoned. The boy's aunt said she had left the kid in the running vehicle while she had gone into the house for a few minutes. APD says it's unclear if kid was actually in the SUV when it was stolen, or whether he had wandered off. The woman has been charged with child endangerment for leaving the kid in the SUV. [YNN] [CBS6] [TU] [APD press release] [WNYT]

Schenectady's city council is considering charging a fee for inappropriate or frivolous 911 calls. One example cited: a woman pulled a fire box alarm because her husband had been suffering from a toothache for four days. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

The Albany common council passed an ordinance that would require vacant building owners to post a $10k bond -- it's intended to keep speculators from buying cheap buildings and not maintaining them. [TU]

Chris Gibson says he'll vote for the temporary extension of the payroll tax cut, if/when it comes up in the House. He also says the the House and Senate should work out a way to extend the tax cut for a full year. An apparent deal between the Senate and House on a package including the tax cut extension is in doubt after some Republican rank and file members of the House said they wouldn't support the deal. [TU] [WNYT] [YNN]

The six-year, $53 million renovation of the Albany County courthouse was officially unveiled yesterday. The project ended up being $18 million over its original budget. The building was first dedicated in 1916. [TU] [WNYT] [Troy Record]

Occupy Albany says it will be publicly presenting a demand this afternoon. Albany police say a protestor was attacked in his tent over the weekend. [OA press release] [TU]

Albany police say a teen barricaded himself in a house in West Hill yesterday afternoon after he ran from officers following up on shots fired (map). The standoff lasted four hours with police swarming the neighborhood before the teen was brought out. [APD press release] [Fox23]

The man convicted of killing a woman at the Eastern Ave Deli in Schenectady in 2009 has been sentenced to 45 years to life. The judge in the case said he was giving the man a "one-way ticket out of this community into a correctional facility." [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Albany County legislator (until Jan 1) Brian Scavo pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he violated an order of protection against a tenant who's accused him of harassment. [TU]

The state commissioner of education says the state tests for middle school language arts and math will be extended to three hours. [NYT]

The parents of the Wilton boy accidentally shot and killed by his friend have filed a wrongful death suit against the the father and child. [Daily Gazette]

NYRA says it will have a net loss of $20 million this year. [Daily Gazette]

An SUV ran into the Schenectady County Public Library yesterday afternoon after the driver had gas pedal/brake pedal mixup. [Fox23]

The owner of Sneaky Pete's says he's going to sue the city of Albany over the zoning board rejection of his application to use a site in north Albany, alleging it's "a white-and-black thing." [TU]

A landscaping and construction company in Brunswick says it may have to shut down because the town says its property is not zoned for that use -- 9 years after it opened. [WTEN]

State Police say the white powder that shut down a Brunswick Dunkin' Donuts was a cleaning material.

Concerns about traffic could trip up the proposed -- and controversial -- Hoosick Street McDonald's in Troy. [Troy Record]

Kateri Tekakwitha, a Native American woman born near what is now Amsterdam in 1656, has been approved for sainthood by the Catholic church. Kateri's case for sainthood was finalized by the recovery of a boy in Washington State in 2006 after his family and friends said they prayed to Kateri -- a event the church declared was a miracle. When canonized, she will be America's first indigenous saint. [Daily Gazette] [NPR] [TU]

A 12-year-old has been baking cupcakes for residents of Shelters of Saratoga for the last year. [Saratogian]

When it's your time to go, you'd be hard pressed to go out as well as Rensselaerville resident Barbara Dudley. [TU]

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APD: Stolen Car/Missing Child

Albany detectives arrested the 20 year old woman involved in reporting the stolen car and missing child this afternoon.

Ahjhanea Threat of 81 Ten Broeck Street was charged late this afternoon with Endangering the Welfare of a Child. She was given an appearance ticket and will be arraigned tomorrow morning in city court.

Threat called police this afternoon at 2:24 p.m. to report her car stolen and her nephew missing. When officers arrived she told them she had parked her SUV in front of her house to unload groceries. She took her 3 year old nephew inside and left him in the first floor hallway while she brought groceries to her second floor apartment. When she came back down her nephew was missing and her car was stolen.

Officer found her car abandoned in the parking lot of the Ida Yarborough apartment complex. The child was found nearby in the complex by a postal worker. He was unharmed. It was unclear at the time whether the child was taken from the house with the stolen car or just had wandered off on his own.

Threat was brought down to the Children & Family Services Unit to be interviewed. She admitted to detectives that she had left her nephew in the car seat inside the car while it was parked outside her house running and the keys in the ignition. She ran inside to get diapers and was gone only a couple minutes when she came out and the car was gone.

It is unclear how the child got out of the car at Ida Yarborough. No information on a suspect at this time.

The boy was turned back over to his mother.
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APD: Shots Fired

Albany police responded to a shots fired call this afternoon on Clinton Avenue and North Lake Avenue that led to a possible suspect running into a home nearby and barricading himself inside.

The shots fired call came in around 4:00 p.m. When officers arrived they found evidence that shots were fired. Nearby they spotted a suspect who matched the description of one of the men being involved. When officers approached him he took off running and was chased by officers. He ran into 169 North Lake Avenue. Officers surrounded the house. After unsuccessfully trying to get the suspect out the Emergency Services Team was called in.

Contact was made with one person inside the house and after a brief time the individual, who police believe was the suspect who ran inside, came out without further incident. A search of the house was conducted by members of the Emergency Services Team. No one else was located inside.

The suspect was transported down to the detective division to be interviewed. No charges at this moment.

No further information is available at this time.